This coming Friday, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games begin. Some events are ahead of the official ceremony for scheduling reasons, but there's no doubt the media coverage will be overwhelming. However, behind all this celebration of international sport lies an uncomfortable truth: interest in hosting the Games is falling apart. Why? The folks at Search Party on YouTube explain...
To be honest: the only competition I watched from the Tokyo 2020/21 Olympics was the marathon. Eliud Kipchoge gave a true lesson in endurance, managed to retain his medal (he had won the gold in Rio 2016), and won by an 80-second margin, the largest in half a century. It was the last athletics event, on the last day of the Games. I ignored everything else. 'Olympic spirit'? Well, thanks.
Fast forward three years, and we're days away from Paris 2024. As it's a summer event with more reasonable hours for the Western world, the theory suggests the Games should be well received. However, the truth is that Paris arrived at this situation almost by default. In fact, the situation faced by the International Olympic Committee was so complex that it decided to announce two host cities in the same ceremony... one for each finalist.
The dark side of the Olympic Business
The folks at Search Party on YouTube explain that this isn't the first time much of the world has turned its back on the Olympics. Mexico City '68 was marked by protests and violence (the "Tlatelolco Massacre" happened ten days before its start). Munich '72, terrorism was the only winner. Montreal '76 cost thirteen times more than expected (the official overrun was 720%), and 29 countries boycotted it. Four years later, in Moscow '80, only 80 countries participated, with 66 absent in protest over the Afghanistan war.
Los Angeles got the '84 Games by default (Teheran was interested, but let's say things changed a lot in Iran in the late '70s), and essentially imposed all its conditions: general reuse of existing facilities, and investment in infrastructure with private capital (the Olympic Velodrome had 7-Eleven as sponsor, and McDonald's did the same with the Olympic Swim Stadium). Los Angeles '84 wasn't only a success but ended with a positive balance. That revived interest in the Games, however...
... the old habits didn't take long to return. For the 2004 Games, eleven cities participated in the selection process, and with such competition, the Olympic Committee only increased its demands. The 'Los Angeles Model' was forgotten, new disciplines were added, and with them, the requirement for new facilities, financed exclusively by the cities.... which at the same time had to lie to keep a candidacy attractive and receive the necessary political support.
What consequence? Incredible expenses, and the emergence of the so-called 'White Elephants', stadiums and other spaces built that end up abandoned, or with minimal use. All promises of economic growth, tourism expansion, and exposure are widely exaggerated. And to finish, the current Games: Six cities participated in the selection. Boston and Hamburg withdrew due to public rejection. Rome cited fiscal reasons, and Budapest also abandoned the race due to lack of local support. Paris and Los Angeles? One game each. Brisbane 2032 was chosen almost by default. 2036? Nobody has any idea...
